The Daleks hadn't stopped their chanting.

My hands reached over to Rose and Dakota. They took gentle hold of their wrists. They turned to me, fear growing in their eyes.

"It'll be okay. The Doctor's never abandoned us before, Dakota, I doubt he'll start now. If he does, I'll punch him until he gets it right." I promised.

This didn't assure Dakota much. The corner of Rose's lip tilted up for a near smile.

The Dalek behind us didn't agree with joy. If anything it made him angry. "You know the Doctor." It ranted behind me. Dakota and Rose trembled in fear. Rolling my eyes, I turned my head towards the Dalek. "You understand him. You will predict his actions."

Unfortunately for the Dalek, I'd been having a bad day. "Nah. Don't feel like it." I replied, dryly.

It didn't like that. He rolled closer, aiming the plunger at me. "Predict! Predict! Predict!"

"Nah. I don't feel like it." I repeated.

Before the insane Dalek could explode in mad rage, a second Dalek saved his life.

"TARDIS detected in flight." It reported.

The first Dalek relaxed. He back away from me, lowering the plunger as he did so. "Launch missiles. Exterminate."

"You can't!" Rise cried out. I glared back at her. Dakota was starting to shake. "The TARDIS hasn't got any defences."

"Don't tell them that!" I snapped.

"They're going to kill him!" Rose argued back.

"The human female has predicted correctly." The Dalek informed.

I hissed at the Dalek.

They brought up the viewscreen again. It focused on the missiles. They were quickly approaching the TARDIS. Rose gasped when they exploded. Dakota pulled in Rose for a hug. I stayed in a defense position in front of them.

The Daleks went back to their plans. Their Predatory was gone. They could continue unhindered.

Except they forgot they were dealing with me.

"Terra, what are we gonna do?" Rose asked. Her words were thick with pain.

Dakota took my wrist in her hand. She gripped it so tight I think my knuckles were turning as white as her's. "They killed the Doctor. We'll never stop the Masters now."

My tongue clicked to shut them up. "Ten seconds. Stand by." They were surprised at my lack of grief.

"What?" Dakota and Rose gawked.

"Ten seconds. Stand by." I flipped Dakota's hold on my wrist, taking a firm hold of her wrist. My other hand grabbed Rose to pull her closer.

Rose made a noise of protest. She was just about to shout when the TARDIS engine whirred around us. Dakota yelped in fear, curling up closer to me. My hair started flying about in the created breeze.

We weren't tight enough to keep the Dalek out.

The TARDIS phased to existence around us. The coral seemed to shine brighter than I'd ever seen it. There was this odd feeling in my mind. It felt like I was in two places at once, with my Time Lord sense unable to tell them apart. In the TARDIS, on a Dalek ship, in the TARDIS, on a Dalek ship, in, on, in, on-in-on-in-on-in-on-in-on-in.

IN!

ON!

IN!

ON!

As it phased in and out, I could make out Jack's face behind the console. The Doctor was glaring at my little group with intense blue orbs, like the TARDIS wasn't landing around us fast enough.

Thankfully the process was over before I dropped in shock.

"Terra, pull them down!" The Doctor ordered. "Pull them down, Terra!"

I dragged the two humans to the grating. They followed without question.

"Exterminate!" The Dalek shouted just before Jack blew it up.

It was only when smoke started rising from it that I let go of their hands. Rose got up to her feet fast, walking up to the Doctor. I had to help Dakota to her feet.

"You did it." Rose let out a breath of relief before the Doctor pulled her in for a strong hug. "Feels like I haven't seen you in years."

Jack came up to Dakota and I. He was looking at the albino woman cautiously. "Controller."

"It's Dakota now." Dakota corrected. She worried on her fingers, glancing up to Jack and myself to make sure her name was alright. "The Masters- they chose me as the Controller."

Jack studied her face for a quick moment. If you asked me later, I'd tell you he was seeing if she was his type. In reality he was seeing her loyalty, her closeness to where I was standing. He suddenly had the thought of me saving this woman from dying like so many before her.

He stretched his hand out to her. "Nice to meet ya then, Dakota." Dakota flushed. She took his hand, gently shaking it.

As soon as the shake ended Jack pulled me in for big bear hug. I squeaked in distress. Jack hugs I'd become used to, this one was just setting off a lot of introvert alarms in my head.

"Yeah. You're never allowed to do that again." Jack decided once I was on solid ground.

His words made me snort. "Would you believe me if I said my plan was to pull her to the ground?"

"No." Jack answered honestly.

"Okay."

"Then what was your plan?"

My cheeks flushed. "To pull Rose to the ground. The Anne-Droid was...faster than expected."

Jack clicked his tongue at me. "Yeah. Never allowed to do it again."

I shoved his arm.

"Hey, don't I get a hug?" Jack called over to Rose.

It broke up her's and the Doctor's intense eye contact.

Rose let out a barking laugh to Jack. "Oh, come here!" She ran to him.

"I was talking to him." Jack pulled her in for a hug. Rose returned it, happy. "Welcome home."

'You made a new friend.'

'Play nice. She was scared.'

'She was scared?'

'Okay Rose was too.'

'Terra, it's alright to admit you were scared.' The Doctor assured.

'Yeah sure. I just wasn't scared. I knew you were coming.' I stated. And I did, not just from the show. The Doctor just doesn't leave people behind, not to Daleks. It'd be like...if Harry Potter left the Dursleys to take on Dementors! It's not how it goes.

'I didn't.'

'Yeah, real pessimistic of you. They were scared too. I had to compensate by being NICE. How DARE you make me the nice one, you son-of-a-bitch!'

He mentally laughed. 'Oh Rassilon, I never thought I'd hear you swear again.'

'Well get ready. I've been coming up with some clever ones on that ship.'

'Throw them at me, Sailor.'

'Will do, Mr Magoo.'

And the Doctor was just beaming at me. This stupid grin that I could place. It belonged on Ten's face. The one where his cheeks were ballooning from how wide the smile was. I could see him fighting the urge to hug me. His arms were shaking a bit by his sides. Instead of a hug, I sent him all the mental assurances of a phantom hug. He sent back assurances of his own.

Dakota had retaken her safe place behind me. The hug between Rose and Jack had ended, mental conversations going by much faster than the other ones.

"Oh, I thought I'd never see you again." Rose exhaled in relief.

"Oh, you were lucky. That was just a one shot wonder." Jack admitted, waving to the tossed aside defabricator.

"How often do you get to say that?" I teased instantly.

Jack smirked at me. The flirty one he had trademarked on some planet, no doubt. "I was talking about the gun."

"So was I." I smirked back.

"Oi, quit it." The Doctor snapped without heat.

Jack turned back to Rose. The human was giggling at the familiar arguments. Dakota was looking at us with a shy smile. "It drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it's just a piece of junk."

He tossed the thing to the floor. It's metal clanking was disheartening.

==CON==

I'd sent Dakota into the back. She had protested the idea, saying she had wanted to help take down her former Masters. I convinced her that we would, and that she could help once we were back on the Game Station.

When I walked back to the console room, I heard Rose. "You said they were extinct. How comes they're still alive?"

Turning the corner, Jack pulled me in with an arm over my shoulders. "One minute they're the greatest threat in the Universe." He walked me towards the destroyed Dalek. I could see bits of the charred squishy alien inside. Jack sat down on the grating below, I followed him there. "The next minute they vanished out of time and space."

"They went off to fight a bigger war." The Doctor revealed. He backed away from the Dalek. "The Time War." He spoke it's name like a secret he didn't want to say.

"I thought that was just a legend." Jack gawked at him.

"You'll find in time the term 'legend' is just an exaggerated story." I reminded him. Jack looked at me in surprise. I nodded.

"I was there. The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them." The Doctor explained the story. From his expression, it was as painful as the first time he told Rose and I. He glanced to me, still under Jack's arm. "I almost thought it was worth it." He turned back to the dead Dalek. "Now it turns out they died for nothing." He spat.

"There's thousands of them now. We could hardly stop one. What're we going to do?" Rose pleaded.

The Doctor's whole outward flipped. The pain was faded from his face, swapped out with some kind of false exuberance. "No good stood round here chin wagging. Human race, you'd gossip all day." Jack smiled at the jibe. The Doctor took my hand, pulling me up to my feet. "The Daleks have got the answers. Let's go and meet the neighbors."

He wrapped my arm around his. "Good strategy." I complimented.

"Thanks. I really do try." The Doctor beamed.

"You can't go out there!" Rose shouted as we walked through the door.

The Daleks noticed us immediately. "Exterminate! Exterminate!" They chanted. They fired from the whisks. The blasts were blocked by the force field.

"Have they started yet?" I asked loudly. "I don't think they started yet."

"I think they did start." The Doctor remarked.

"And that was it?" I questioned.

"I know, right? Useless! Nul points." He shouted to the large hoard of Daleks. He turned around, making his way to lean on the side of the TARDIS. "It's all right, come on out. That force field can hold back anything."

"Almost anything." Jack commented. I whacked him upside his head. "Ow!"

"Stop divulging the secrets of the group!" I scolded.

"Sorry my bad." Jack winced.

The Time Lord, meanwhile, made his way back to the edge of the force field. "Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm." He explained to the Daleks. "You might've removed all your emotions but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me?"

It did. Oh by the Merciful Storyline, it did. Some of the further away Daleks were shrinking their whisks, deciding whether to fire at the Doctor or not. Others were trying to avoid staring at him with the eyestalks. My personal favorites were the three directly ahead. They had no choice but to sit and aim.

'Fear is not Dalek.'

"So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?" The Doctor interrogated.

"They survived through me." The Dalek Emperor's voice boomed.

Not gonna lie, I grumble out a swear when I heard him. The voice was much louder than on TV.

Heavy lights flipped on to reveal the giant Dalek. The creature itself was safe in a tube, filled with some kind of water system. The surrounding structure was much more suited to an Emperor than the rest of the tin cans.

The Doctor walked closer to it. He was at the other edge of the force field. I stayed in front of the humans, for protection. "Rose, Terra, Captain, this is the Emperor of the Daleks." The Doctor introduces, a tremble of dismay in his voice.

The Dalek Emperor, even with one eye, had the guts to look down on us. "You destroyed us, Doctor and Terra. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive."

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, stunned. "I didn't do any sort of inferno."

The Dalek Emperor moved his eye to me, creeping me out. "Terra. The Fallen Star from Gallifrey. You and the Doctor laid waste to Dalek kind at the end of the Time War."

I was shocked with each and every word. My future self did say I was called Fallen Star by the Daleks...but I always thought that just meant it would happen later, like after this. I didn't know they were already calling me that.

I turned to the Doctor, seeing his blue eyes filled with curiosity and betrayal.

"I have no idea what he is talking about." I promised, practically frenzied. "Honest. This is a very big surprise. I am silently panicking. Okay. Not so silent, but-"

"Do not interrupt." A Dalek shouted at us.

"Do not interrupt." A second Dalek repeated.

"Do not interrupt." A third one agreed. It was hard to say if these were the same three Daleks that had Dakota, Rose, and I at whisk-point.

The Doctor stood up by my side. I let him, not wanting to show how scared I was by the Dalek Emperor's accusations. "I think you're forgetting something. She's Terra Johnson, and I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing we can do, it's talk. I've got five billion languages, and she's got an attitude, and you haven't got one way of stopping us. So if anybody's going to shut up, it's you!"

The Daleks silenced, backing away from their Predator in fear. Or what it predators now? I'm not sure.

"Okie doke. So, where were we?" The Doctor asked the Dalek Emperor. "You were accusing my friend of genocide?"

"She has." The Dalek Emperor stressed. "We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured."

"So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead." The Doctor summarized.

"That makes them half human." Rose realized.

"Those words are blasphemy." The Dalek Emperor scolded

"Do not blaspheme." A Dalek chanted. The whole congregation of Daleks chanted with it.

"Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek." The Dalek Emperor excused.

"Daleks have a religion?" I asked the Doctor. "You didn't tell me they had a religion."

"They don't." The Doctor looked up to the Dalek Emperor. "Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?"

"I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the God of all Daleks!" The Dalek Emperor decreed.

"Worship him. Worship him. Worship him." The Daleks praised.

'Praise him. Praise him. Rob me of my faith in peace. Praise him.'

"They're insane. Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that's enough to drive anyone mad." The Doctor put it together.

"But it's worse than that." I interrupted him. "Religion is still a human concept. Somewhere deep inside, is just enough for it." I turned to one Dalek, staring right down his eyestalk. "Driven mad by your own flesh. You hate your own existence...who knows how many bodies you'll pile up to get rid of the stink."

The Dalek stared back. The eyestalk narrowed it's focus for a moment before zooming back out.

'Do you like soufflés?'

'Does it look real to you?'

'We've grown stronger in fear of you.'

"We're going." The Time Lord decided. He took my arm, walking me towards the TARDIS. Rose and Jack quickly followed behind.

"You may not leave my presence." The Dalek Emperor ordered.

"Stay where you are." The Dalek shouted at us.

The Doctor pushed the door open. He let the rest of us inside first. He grinned back at them.

"Exterminate!" The Daleks shouted.

The TARDIS slammed her doors shut. But I could still hear the Daleks shouting at us, firing at the TARDIS. The Doctor rested his head against the door, at a loss.

==CON==

She got us back to the Game Station. I pulled Dakota out from her safe space. She had changed her clothes to a dark red hoodie, cargo denim pants, and a dark red beanie cap. It made her pale skin seem more natural.

When we parked at the end of the room, the Doctor was the first one out. "Turn everything up. All transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!" The Doctor ordered.

The workers immediately began doing so. They hadn't noticed Dakota behind me. She didn't want to be noticed. That was good. That's what I needed.

She pulled on my sleeve. I turned to her. "Dakota?"

"What happened?" Dakota asked. "To my Masters?"

"They aren't your Masters anymore." I reminded, pointedly. "We met the Emperor." Dakota's eyes shrunk to pinpricks. "We're not dead. The Daleks are just coming to invade."

She gasped.

I rolled my eyes. The Doctor was still speaking in the background. "No, no. Don't start freaking out. I need you ready to help."

"B-but the Masters-"

"Will be handled. Now can we please-"

"Oh, my God. The Fleet is moving. They're on their way." Pavale shouted loud enough for us all to hear.

Dakota squeaked in terror.

I let out a small huff. 'Dammit Pavale. I was busy! My plan is going to be very difficult to complete if you keep shouting!'

The Doctor clapped his hands together. He ran to the various panels up the walkway. "Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone?" He paused for effect. The humans all gave him blank faces. Mine was more of a deadpan. "Oh, come on, it's obvious. A great big transmitter. This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?"

'Time to throw him a bone.' "Oh no." I groaned.

"Give the Lady a medal." The Doctor announced, smiling at me proudly.

"Don't do this." I groaned again.

"You've got to be kidding." Jack groaned in agreement. "A Delta Wave?"

"A Delta Wave!" The Doctor rejoiced loudly.

"What's a Delta Wave?" Rose asked, for the others.

"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbecued." Jack explained.

"If you're lucky!" I argued. "If you're not, your head explodes!"

"And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!" The Doctor finished.

Rose didn't seem to be liking the idea. She wasn't alone. Even though I'd seen it on TV, knowing it would fail, there wasn't much reason to like a massive killer death beam.

Especially when the Doctor is building it.

"Well, get started and do it then." Lynda encouraged.

"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days?" The Doctor theorized. He looked to Pavale. "How long till the Fleet arrive?"

"Twenty two minutes."

The Time Lord rushed to work.

The rest of them began to help. Jack was getting them ready for some defense attack. I pulled Dakota aside, going towards the TARDIS.

"I'm not hiding, Terra." Dakota stated. She tried pulling her arm out of mine. "I'm going to help."

"You are. I've had a better idea." I assured. Nodding my head towards the console, I continued guiding Dakota inside. "Come on."

"I said I'm not going to hide!"

"Good. This plan keeps you close and personal." I showed her the remains of the Dalek Jack had shot. "This guy will be helping us out. Grab some cables from that floor panel, those are the spares...I think." While I waited for her to do that, I reached into my bag for my laptop.

Dakota tilted her head at me. "Terra?"

I hummed.

"How will a dead Dalek help us?" Dakota inquired.

"He's gonna help save the human race."

Dakota was more unsure.

I put the laptop aside. It was still starting up anyway. "The Daleks are part of a hivemind. The only way to get inside the hivemind is to already be part of it. Solution? Use a Dalek to hack inside."

"But...how can you hack a Dalek?" Dakota asked.

"Carefully." I replied.

Dakota wasn't convinced. Her face was scrunched up in concern. "And if, you can hack in?"

"Then we tell them Earth is already dead." I explained. "Or not there. I haven't decided yet."

By then, the laptop had powered on. I went to pull out the necessary cables from the floor panel. I started hooking up the Dalek (trying to, anyway).

"This doesn't sound like a good idea." Dakota voiced. She didn't do anything to stop me.

"Of course It is. I've got you helping me." I stated.

"Why would I change anything?" Dakota asked.

"Because in a way, you've been in the Hivemind. You've seen how the pathways work, at least one-way to receive your orders. I'm willing to bet you can help me solve this." I explained. I leaned in, giving my best grin. "Besides. I can't think of a better way to mess them up. Can you help me, Dakota? Give a big middle finger to your 'Masters' from one of their own?"

That was good enough for Dakota. She started searching for relevant cords.

'Hope I do you proud, Oswin.' I thought to myself. 'You deserved better.'

==CON==

"Terra!" Jack called out.

"TARDIS!" I answered over my shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing in there?"

I hopped up off the floor. I turned to Dakota. "Keep trying to connect the Dalek to my laptop. I need a physical connection. At least one cable will work."

Dakota nodded. There was the impression she'd salute if she knew what that was.

I hopped out of the TARDIS, closing the doors behind me. "Trying something myself. What have you got for me, Captain?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. He walked me towards his little group of humans.

"We've now got a forcefield so they can't blast us out of the sky, but that doesn't stop the Daleks from physically invading." Jack reported to me.

"Do they know about the Delta Wave?" Pavale asked, worriedly.

"They'll have worked it out at the same time." Jack answered. "So, they want to stop the Doctor, and probably whatever Terra's doing. That means they've got to get to this level: five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four nine five. So they'll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up."

"Who are they fighting?" Pavale asked.

"Us." Jack replied.

That didn't help his nerves. "And what are we fighting with?"

"Your guards had guns with bastic bullets. That's enough to blow a Dalek wide open." I encouraged.

"There's six of us." The woman argued.

"Rose, Terra, you can help me. I need all these wires stripping bare." The Doctor recruited.

The blonde walked over. I stayed with Jack.

"Right, now there's five of us." The woman

"Then let's move it. Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls." Jack instructed. The nearly happy couple ran off to follow.

Lynda, she made a stop by the Doctor. "I just want to say, er, thanks, I suppose, and I'll do my best."

"Me too." The Doctor reached up his hand. The Doctor and Lynda shook hands.

As Lynda chased after her new group, Jack came up.

"It's been fun, but I guess this is goodbye." Jack stated.

"Don't talk like that." Rose warned. "The Doctor's going to do it. You just watch him."

Jack took her head in his hands, caressing her cheeks. "Rose, you are worth fighting for." The man kissed her. She let him, a little surprised by the act.

Jack turned to me. I wanted to say something, but I was just standing there. He was basically going to die, and then never stop. It was going to be like that for the rest of his life, his long linear life. He came up to me. "Terra, it was an absolute privilege knowin' ya."

I expected a pat on the back on the shoulder, and a meaningful look in the eye. If my first kiss was Jack saying goodbye I'd never forgive him. and he knew it.

"Don't go." I begged. 'We can stop this, Jack, please. I can't have you dying on me. Don't you remember what I said to you in my room? Don't leave me. Please, please stay.'

The ex-time Agent grabbed the sides of my face. My eyes widened when I figured out what was gonna happen. He pulled me close, and...kissed my forehead.

'Fifty-second century tease.'

"Wish I'd never met you." He whispered against my forehead. "I was much better off as a coward."

"Yeah you were." I admitted, giving his hand a quick squeeze.

Jack pulled away after a moment, a look of resigned acceptance on his face. He moved towards the Doctor, while I stayed where I was with probably a heartbroken expression on my face.

He kissed the Doctor with little ceremony. "See you in hell."

He ran off to his new team. I'd never wanted to cry harder in my life.

"He's going to be all right, isn't he?" Rose asked after our silence.

To keep from crying in front of them, I made my way back towards the TARDIS.

"Where're you going?" Rose asked. "And where's Dakota?"

That shocked me to reality. I blinked, looking to my friend. "In the TARDIS. I have a Plan of my own, wanna give it a go, buy us some time."

"And Dakota...?" Rose prompted.

"Is helping me." I motioned for Rose to rejoin the Doctor. "Go on now, go back to helping your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"I'm not her boyfriend!"

I scoffed. "The Lord and Lady doth protest too much." I teased before climbing into the TARDIS.

The door locked behind me.

Dakota looked at me, worriedly. "Are you alright?"

'No. And I won't be, not while Jack is dying forever and ever to never stop. Not until New Earth, where he'll just be a giant head.'

"Yeah." I sniffled, wiping my nose with my sleeve. "Yeah. Did you get any of the cables to connect yet?"

Then it was back to work.

==CON==

"We got it!" I cheered loudly from inside the TARDIS.

Dakota turned to me. "It's done? You've hacked it?"

"Yes I did!" I put the laptop down on the pilot seat. Once it was secure I bounced around the console. "I hacked in, I hacked in, I hacked into a Dal-ek!" I sang to the tune of 'ring around the rosey'.

It had taken an hour. Granted, that was still a short time when you think about how long it should take to hack a Dalek. Which, according to the Doctor, took forever. An hour was a blink. Despite the rush, there wasn't much time to enjoy it. If I wanted this done there was so much more to do.

"Dakota, you stay in here." I put the laptop in her lap. "You keep it on this screen. All you need to do is tell me if that number-" I pointed to a number on the screen. The screen looked vaguely like Google Maps only completely zoomed out. The number looked like coordinates. "-changes. At all. Got that?"

Dakota nodded. "Won't let you down, ma'am."

"What did I say about calling me ma'am?"

Dakota's pale cheeks went pink. "Won't let you down, Terra."

"Doubt you could." I gave her a proud grin. "And. Just." I took hold of her arm. Pulling a pen from my pocket, I wrote Darcy's phone number on her arm. "In case of emergency. Like, sudden time displacement."

"Wait what do they mean?" Dakota asked as I got to my feet.

"Rose'll tell you later." I went to the doors. "It's part of my Plan. Remember, tell me when those numbers on screen change!"

I swung the doors open. Rose and the Doctor were too engrossed in each other to notice me. I was a ghost.

"Hello concubine, Magic." I happily walked around them.

Again, I might as well have been Danny Fenton in Casper High.

Sorry. Did I spoil that for you? So sorry for spoiling his worst kept secret. Write your letters to '180 Your Trash Can Lane'.

"Don't mind me." I playfully brushed them off. My focus was the main computer. I began typing in the new coordinates. I'd spent a few minutes in the TARDIS looking for the right one.

'Take this, Eris, you stupid dwarf planet. Pluto shall be the Ninth Planet once again! NO ONE SKIPS NINE!'

Burton Guster would be so proud of me.

I was typing in the extensive code to connect this main screen to my laptop. It would send the coordinates to my laptop, then send those inside the Dalek, then it would send it across the Dalek-Hivemind.

And the Daleks would believe planet Earth was billions of miles that way. It might hold them off long enough for the Doctor and I to build the Delta Wave.

Oh yeah. I make the best plans.

To top it off, I wasn't inside the TARDIS. I doubt the Doctor noticed I left.

He'd send Rose off, thinking I was inside with Dakota. Rose would help Dakota understand Darcy's number, she'd distract them until it was time for the Bad Wolf to bring them here.

There was plenty of time in The middle for me to help the Doctor build the Delta Wave. It might be enough time to tune it. The Earth wouldn't be hurt. These humans would get to live. Then Jack wouldn't die. Or, if I was lucky, I could pick the Doctor's brain about what the fuck the Dalek Emperor had meant about me killing the Time Lords.

You know. If there was time.

Except there wasn't.

Because he had noticed me.

Before I could push in the finished coordinates for Eris, the Doctor lifted me up in his arms.

"Put me down!" I screamed at him. My legs tried kicking back at his shins.

For some reason, I remembered my old leg injury from when I'd woken up. The one that looked like I'd been kicked in the shin. The almost memory gave me pause. Enough for the Doctor the push me into the TARDIS before I realized.

"Hey Terra!" Rose cheered. "Do you know what I'm supposed to do next? Do I take my hand off? It's moving."

I didn't answer.

"The number hasn't changed, Terra. Is that good?" Dakota asked from the floor, my laptop ion her thighs.

Rose seemed to figure out something was wrong. She ran to the doors, pushing me out of the way.

I let her. Instead, I stared down at the last bits of the Dalek.

Rose was screaming as she pounded on the doors. Dakota looked up at me.

"This isn't good. Is it?" Dakota asked.

Numb, I shook my head.

"This is Emergency Programme One."

I threw my shoe at his head. "Bastard!" I shouted at it. "You monochromatic bastard!"

"Terra, Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape." The Doctor's hologram recited.

"No!" Rose sobbed. Her brown eyes were leaking tears.

Dakota held me back from throwing my other shoe. To be honest, I'm not sure who I would've hit with it.

"And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you and Rose home." The Doctor's hologram went on.

"I won't let you." Rose argued.

I kept glaring. Hell yes he was in a life or death situation. He threw me in here! I was gonna kill him when the TARDIS would take me back. Screw the Bad Wolf/Time Vortex/whatever. Ten was coming to life in the angry hands of Terra Johnson!

"And I bet Rose is gonna be fussing and moaning now. You're probably inventing new curse words for this hologram. Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do, Rose. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life with that boyfriend of your's, Mickey. Terra, I want you to go find UNIT. Tell them I sent you. They'll help you in ways I never can now. You'll get to keep saving the world. Can you do that Rose, Terra? Do that for me. Have fantastic lives."

The hologram blinked off.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard." I repeated. My hand raised. "Who else?"

Neither Rose or Dakota answered me.

"You can't do this to us. You can't. Take us back! Take us back! No!" Rose ranted.

"No from you. Dakota?"

The albino woman wasn't reacting tamely either. Her teeth were set in a growl. "He sent us away! I was going to help stop the Masters! How dare he!"

"Yes! Another person on Team Murder-Doctor!" I cheered, feeling a sadistic glee.

Rose had effectively find me out at that point. "Come on, fly. How do you fly? Come on, Terra! Help me!" Rose shouted at me.

"I don't know how!" I shouted back. "He never showed me that part!"

Rose grunted in frustration. She kept trying to flip levers and switches, only to find then stuck. I started typing randomly on the console computer, hoping at least something would kick off.

After ten minutes of this, it was obvious neither of us would make the TARDIS act against the Doctor's wishes.

We had failed.

And as Rose walked out of the TARDIS, as Dakota followed her out, as I sunk to the metal flooring, I had one thought.

Jack...I'm sorry.

==CON==

Dakota did not understand the past.

It was noisier than her time. There were these things, called cars. They didn't fly like the hovers they used it her time. These used something called wheels. They were powered by 'gas' rather than cold fusion.

The clothes were a whole other story. Dakota had disliked Terra's first options for clothing. It turns out those were the nicest pieces of twenty-first century clothing. All these women wore the shortest skirts and thin shirts. Did they not have to fear the killer sun, or their atmosphere coming down to choke on them?

They had different food. Dakota had only heard legends and myth of the 'chicken'. She had seen people eating things the Rose girl called 'chips' and 'crisps'. They did not drink water, instead it was 'soda'.

The Rose's mother, a stern faced but affectionate Jackie Tyler-"But you can just go ahead and call me Jackie. Poor thing like you, needs a little TLC"- had given Dakota some 'fish and chips' to eat. The older woman had thought Dakota was too thin.

Dakota didn't even know why she had joined Rose. It was obvious Terra wouldn't leave the TARDIS. Her plan to stop the Masters had been cut off. Dakota was looking forward to their defeat.

It was clear that the Time Lady needed a moment alone. Dakota left her with her thoughts, following Rose. She nearly asked what the numbers on her arm meant, except for Rose was sobbing most of the way here.

"And it's gone up market, this place. They're doing little tubs of coleslaw, now. It's not very nice. It tastes a bit sort of clinical." Jackie complained.

Dakota didn't understand how you could complain about food. She'd never had it. One of the many tubes on her body had been meant to feed her nutrients. Dakota doesn't think she ever had to use her teeth for anything but words this meal.

"Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?" Mickey asked, though clearly only to Jackie. Dakota didn't like Mickey.

"What's it selling?" Jackie asked.

"Pizza." Mickey answered after a pause.

"That's nice. Do they deliver?" Jackie asked.

"Yeah." Mickey replied.

"What is pizza?" Dakota asked.

This Mickey person blinked. "It's...pizza. Who are you again?"

"Dakota." Dakota answered. "Terra named me."

Mickey seemed to accept this answer. He didn't trust Dakota, based on the look in his eyes. "She named you?"

"I don't remember my name from before...I didn't remember. Terra gave me a new one." Dakota answered.

"When are you from again?"

"The year 200,100." Dakota answered.

Mickey didn't have a reply for that.

"Oh, Rose, have something to eat." Jackie encouraged.

"Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying, and there's nothing I can do." Rose replied snippily.

"Well, like you said two hundred thousand years. It's way off." Jackie casually brushed off.

"But it's not. It's now. That fight is happening right now, and he's fighting for us, for the whole planet, and I'm just sitting here eating chips." Rose complained.

'Again with the complaining. It was going to drive Dakota mad.'

"Listen to me. God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why?" Jackie asked but clearly didn't expect an answer. Was that done Motherly thing Dakota had head about on the Games? "Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me."

"But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?" Rose asked, on the verge of a breakdown.

"It's what the rest of us do." Mickey shrugged.

"But I can't!" Rose snapped. She had the mind to lower her voice to keep from causing a scene.

"Why, because you're better than us?" Mickey asked, sounding hurt.

"No, I didn't mean that. But it was." Rose let out a long suffering sigh. She looked out the window. Dakota followed her gaze, seeing a blue sky and normal people milling about. "It was a better life. And I don't mean all the travelling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't..."

She ran off.

Mickey followed her.

Dakota still did not understand the past.

She held up her arm to Jackie, exposing the written numbers. "Do you know what these mean?"

Still in shock at her daughter running off, Jackie gave Dakota a phone. After typing in the supposed 'phone number', Dakota was told to press the green button and hold it to her ear.

She did so, wondering why the device ringing was so important. There was some clicking sound over the speaker.

"Hello?" Dakota asked.

"What's on fire and why was I not invited?" A young woman's voice spoke out from the phone.

==CON==

I was standing in the TARDIS.

How long had I been standing here? Not long, if Rose hadn't come back yet.

I went over to my laptop, shutting it down. There's be other times to hack a Dalek, right? It would be child's play after this.

Now I'm thinking about Darcy, about Dakota using the number on her arm when she didn't have to now. I could call Darcy now for her.

Pulling out my phone, I typed in a number.

Except as I hit the green button I realized it wasn't Darcy's.

The dial tone came up.

"Hey. This is Captain Jack Harkness. Leave your message after the beep."

'Even his answering machine flirts with you.' I thought before the beep.

"Jack?" I spoke into the phone. "Are you there? It's...Terra. Me, Terra. I'm here, modern day. The one that's caught up. The one that...I'm sorry. I wanted- I never wanted you to be...I'm sorry."

Tears were gathering up in my eyes. They burned as I held them back. My words were starting to stick in my throat. The ones coming out were no better than gibberish at this point.

"I didn't want to leave you. I was trying to save you! I hacked into the Dalek Hivemind!" I hiccuped a cry. "Right? I was gonna send them to fucking Eris. Ninth planet stealer...what am I doing? You don't care. I never got the chance to use it. It failed. It didn't save you."

Wiping at my face with my sleeve, I sucked in as much air as I could. Crying was a bitch for Time Ladies.

"Bye Jack. I...you were better."

I hung up the phone.

It rang right after. That stupid ringtone Darcy on it.

Finishing wiping at my eyes, I answered her. "You called me. What do you want?"

"Dakota just called me? Why didn't you call to report?" Darcy interrogated.

"You're my second call." I admitted. Rising to my feet, I started pacing around the console.

"Second call? Who the hell was first?" Darcy asked, offended.

I didn't answer that.

"Fine. Whatever. What do you need?" Darcy asked.

"Dakota. Treat her right." I ordered. Darcy scoffed, as if she'd do anything less than follow an instruction. I didn't dignify that with a response. "Why do the Daleks call me 'Fallen Star'?" I asked.

Darcy snorted across the line. "Sure. I'll take care of a pig and your other strays." She snickered. "As for the Fallen Star thing, I'm not sure. Their language is hard to translate. They have the same word for graveyard and sewer, how messed up is that? They treat their dead like garbage."

"Well they don't like the living that much better." I snarked. "Translation? What do you mean?"

"From what Future You has told me, and from the bits of chatter I've heard, they think of you like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs."

"I'm a dinosaur killer too?"

"No. It's like...their word for meteor is just 'fallen star'. You already killed off the Daleks, that's it."

I groaned.

"Yeah. It's shit. I'll pick up Dakota in thirty, that okay?"

"Fine. Fine, thirty minutes." This information would take time to process. Maybe a century. "Don't be late, Anderson."

"The only thing I'm late for is my monthly's!" She cheered.

My phone clapped shut.

==CON==

Twenty minutes later, Rose and Mickey came back.

"Terra! I figured it out!" Rose announced.

"The Bad Wolf is a signal to bring you back?"

"Yeah! We thought it was a warn-...how long did you know?" Rose asked, some of the pep lost in her step.

"It was spray painted on the TARDIS side." I replied. "Plus the thing with Blon. It became obvious."

Rose let out a quick huff. She put her game face back on. "Alright then. Let's get it working then!" She walked up to the console. "All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip. Just reverse."

"Yeah, but we still can't do it." Mickey argued.

"Shut up, Idiot." I tapped the side of the computer. "The TARDIS is telepathic. She can hear you."

"It's not listening now, is it?" Mickey replied, snarky.

"Because you're being an idiot." I scolded. "We just need to get inside the circuits."

"Last time I saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle bit opened, and there was this light, and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS." Rose explained to Mickey. To be honest, she sounded on the edge of mad. "If we can open it, I can make contact. I can tell it what to do."

"Sounds good! Let's get to cracking!" I cheered.

"Rose." Mickey cautioned.

"Mmm?" Rose glances up at him, through him.

"If you go back, you're going to die." Mickey stated.

"I'll die too, half-wit." I supplied. Mickey glared at me. "But who cares right?"

"That's a risk we've got to take, because there's nothing left for us here." Rose added.

"Okay, if that's what you think, let's get this thing open." Mickey agreed.

"Alright then. Terra, how do we open it?" Rose asked.

"I don't know how to drive her. You think I know how to open her?" I asked, surprised.

Rose nodded.

I paused, then turned to Mickey. "Get your car and a hook. This'll take awhile."

==CON==

They were trying out the car thing. I'd gone over to talk to Jackie.

"That pale girl left ages ago." Jackie said before I got within a few feet. "With some creepy girl."

"Creepy like knives or like prostitute?" I asked, casually.

Jackie paused. "...both."

"Then Dakota's fine." I cheered, smiling too wide. "Thanks for the help!"

I went back to the TARDIS. Mickey's car was burning up a lot of rubber. I paid it no mind, going to the console just as the chain broke.

"You said that would work!" Rose shouted at me, kicking the console.

"It did. We got her attention." I supplied, knocking on the console. "Now we have to keep it."

==CON==

While the Tyler's argued, I was below deck talking to the TARDIS.

"He's gonna die." I began. "We both know that. We both know how, too. Help us? I don't want that to be Rose. She doesn't deserve that in her mind."

The TARDIS didn't answer. Not even in my mind.

"She doesn't. It could kill her."

'I'll die too, half-wit.' My own voice echoed, with the TARDIS behind it.

"I'm me. I've had worse in my head."

She didn't answer right away. 'I looked into Rose Tyler, and she'll look into me.'

"Does she have to?" I asked, weakly. My last Plan had failed.

The TARDIS showed me an image of them kissing.

I grunted in annoyance. "It won't go like that for me."

The TARDIS mentally laughed.

"I just don't want her to go through that."

She showed me an image of Rose, crying and alone, on a dying TARDIS.

"Or that. I'll keep him from staying dead." I promised. "Just please let us open your heart."

==CON==

"There's got to be something else we can do." Mickey encouraged.

We were leaning on his car. Rose was between us, keeping a mediator position. It was smarter than putting nd next to Mickey.

"Mickey Smith, voice of hope. What has changed on this Earth since I last saw it?" I asked, a teasing smirk on my face.

Mickey glared at me over Rose.

"Mum was right. Maybe we should just lock the door and walk away." She sighed.

"And now Carolina Rose is being a downer. What bizarro world is this?!" I turned around to Rose. "Where's the girl that smack talked to a flap of skin? That sassed a man who locked her in a room with a zombie? The girl that touched a Dalek and lived?"

"It's pointless, Terra. There's nothing." Rose replied, full of melancholy.

"Nope. I don't accept your quitter talk. There's gonna be a way!" I cheered.

"Terra Johnson, cheering people up. Maybe we are in the Twilight Zone." Mickey snarked.

"Watch you mouth, Smith!" I turned towards the corner, where you could already hear Jackie driving up. "If you'll turn your attention to the left, cadets, you will see Commander Jackie Lynn Tyler, providing on the ground support for our next experiment."

Rose and Mickey gawked.

"Please hold your applause until the experiment is complete." I advised. 'Their lucky I didn't make a bet. I'd've made a killing.'

"Right, you've only got this until six o'clock, so get on with it." Jackie explained, parking the truck behind Mickey's Mini.

"Mum, where the hell did you get that from?" Rose asked.

Mickey was gobsmacked.

"Rodrigo. He owes me a favor." Jackie supplied. She climbed out of the thing. She marched up to her daughter's face. She braced herself. "Never mind why, but you were right about your dad, sweetheart. He was full of mad ideas, and it's exactly what he would've done. Now, get on with it before I change my mind."

She tossed the keys to Mickey.

==CON==

I was sitting on the pilot seat, waiting.

"Keep going!" Rose shouted at Mickey.

"Put your foot down!" Jackie was shouting too.

"Faster!" Rose called out.

"Give it some more, Mickey!"

The metal was straining. It wasn't going to hold the TARDIS long.

"Keep going!" Rose shouted.

"Come on, come on!" Jackie shouted.

I looked up to the TARDIS. 'Let it go.'

'No.' She replied, childishly. 'You are the one being childish.'

'Am not!'

"Keep going!"

"Give it some more!"

'He's gonna die if you don't!' I reminded.

The TARDIS didn't like that I was right. Mostly because she could see my next Plan.

The console top popped off. The golden energy began streaming out.

I was ready to take it, instead of Rose, when there was this pounding headache in my head. The pain sent me to knees.

Just in time to miss the vortex opening.

For Rose to look inside.

"Rose!" I shouted as the doors slammed shut.

==CON==

The TARDIS was in flight. I avoided the Bad Wolf, positioning myself by the pilot's seat. She didn't look away from me though, just staring at me. The eyes were a glowing gold, Time Vortex swirling around what used to be Rose's pupils. The gold reminded me of my own eyes. I tried to ignore that thought.

She was still staring at me. Her expression was blank, none of the life that Rose always had. The Bad Wolf tilted her head at me in curiosity. Or maybe it wasn't curiosity. It could've been this uncaring scan.

"What?" I snapped.

"You are different." The Bad Wolf remarked.

It didn't make me feel better about her piercing stare. I shuffled uncomfortably. "Whatever."

"You are Time Lady, yet not." The Bad Wolf went on. My whole body tensed the more she spoke. "You are human, yet not. I can see you, Stardust, for who you are. Your sister. She is special too. She is not Time Lady, and not human. Together you walk the worlds, and you've kept yourself hidden for so long."

I couldn't think of much to say against that. How did the Doctor argue with her? How can anyone argue with the Time Vortex? "It's Johnson, not Stardust."

'Well I can't argue with it either.'

"You're not a Spencer either." The Bad Wolf commented.

I stood up to my feet. My hand gripped the pilot seat. My eyes narrowed on her, trying to make the amber as dangerous as the glowing gold. "How do you know that?"

"I can hear you, Stardust. All that noise you make in this universe, and the echoes in makes in other worlds." Bad Wolf repeated that strange name. "I see who you always are, who you've always been, and yet what you'll become. I hear them, their song."

She was starting to scare me now. I'm being honest. The Bad Wolf was freaking me out. "Stop it. Seriously, stop it. You'll hurt Rose if you keep looking at it."

This made the Bad Wolf pause. She tilted her head back to ramrod straight alignment with her spine.

The TARDIS made a smooth landed. It didn't even move the handbrake, just made the noise. Without moving the handbrake, I don't know how it made the noise. When I turned to the door, I saw the Bad Wolf making the noise in the exact way Idris did in The Doctor's Wife.

'Okay. I'm impressed now.'

The Bad Wolf didn't as much as grin at me. She marched toward the doors, swinging them open.

She materialized herself down the walkway. I stumbled out after her.

The Doctor was surrounded by Daleks. They were aiming their whisks toward him. Clearly Bad Wolf has come out too quick for them to move.

He didn't notice my walking out. He wouldn't look away from Rose. "What've you done?"

"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me." The Bad Wolf replied.

"You looked into the Time Vortex. Rose, no one's meant to see that." The Doctor was pleading, begging, wanting anything else to be his reality than what was before him.

'Or maybe, he just didn't want it to be Rose.'

"Doctor, that's not Rose!" I called out to him, running over to his side.

"This is the Abomination!" The Dalek Emperor decreed.

"Exterminate!"

"No!" I shouted in warning.

The Doctor pulled me down to him. There wasn't time for him to grab Rose.

The Dalek fired a beam at the Bad Wolf. She raised her arm, hand flat. The beam hit the center of her hand. She showed no sign of being shot, or aware that she was being shot.

I gaped at her.

"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself." The Bad Wolf explained. She moved her raised arm towards the moniker. "I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here."

With a wave of her hand, the words vanished.

"Rose, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn." The Doctor pleaded with her.

The Bad Wolf seemed to back off at his request. The golden glow of her eyes faded, leaving instead Rose's normal brown.

"I want you safe. My Doctor, and my Terra." Rose explained, simply and matter of fact. That one thing, that one simple thing, was the only reason she needed to do all of this. "Protected from the false god." She spat.

"You cannot hurt me. I am immortal." The Dalek Emperor argued.

"You are tiny." Her words echoed, as if spoken by a thousand voices at the same time. She narrowed her eyes at the Dalek Emperor, her blank expression somehow not hiding her disgust. "I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them."

The Bad Wolf came back to her eyes. The golden mist swirled around her irises, bleeding out onto her cheeks to mix with Rose's tears.

"Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies." The Bad Wolf announced. She looked over to the line of Daleks. I followed her line of sight, in time to see them vanishing to dust. "The Time War ends."

One by one, the Daleks faded. From the viewscreen to the Dalek ship, I saw more of them melting away.

The entire Dalek Fleet wiped out in a single second.

I watched it happen.

I made it happen.

Well not exactly...but it was near enough.

"I will not die. I cannot die!" The Dalek Emperor shouted, just before he died. His ship with him.

And we always came back to here. Those lines where your hearts just want to break.

"Rose, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go." The Doctor pleaded.

"She can't!" I stressed to him.

"How can I let go of this? I bring life." The Bad Wolf took in a short breath, more tears pouring down her cheek.

Then I felt him wake up.

You know that spike of unease you get when you spot a beehive, and they look angry? Or when you see the jocks, and they see you, and they have murder in their eyes? How about when you can hear your friend just that close to spoiling a movie you like? All of those of leave with this urge to run away.

Then came the awful realization that this feeling was coming from Jack. My companion. My friend. Just this sense of complete escape-escape-need to escape digging into my skull. And he wasn't even in the room! How could the Doctor stand even standing next to him?

If he barely could...how will I?

Jack...I'm so sorry...you'll never forgive me but I'm sorry...

"But this is wrong! You can't control life and death." The Doctor stressed.

"Well apparently she can!" I snapped at him, mentally.

"But I can. The sun and the moon, the day and night, the Stars." The Bad Wolf paused. The golden glow muting back to Rose's brown eyes. "But why do they hurt?"

"The power's going to kill you and it's my fault." The Doctor admitted. His voice was shaking in pain, like I'd taken out his ribs.

You did worse. You broke his hearts.

"I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be." Rose near squeaked.

"That's what I see. All the time." The Doctor got up to his feet. I turned to the TARDIS. She was so quiet, in my head. "And doesn't it drive you mad?"

She was right. I couldn't have taken Rose's place.

I could only sit back and watch.

"My head." Rose whimpered.

"Come here." The Doctor cupped her cheeks in his hands.

"It's killing me." Rose pleaded with him.

"I think you need a Doctor." The Doctor stated.

Rose didn't argue.

The Doctor pulled Rose Tyler in for a kiss.

The rest, you already know.

I stood up on shaky feet once Rose collapsed in his arms. My head turned towards the exit. Jack was on the other side of those doors. I felt it, felt him.

"JACK?!" I couldn't help but call out.

There was no reply.

"JACK?!" I shouted again.

There was a heavy metal clanging sound. "TERRA?!"

"JACK!" I screamed, so happy just to hear his voice.

His footsteps were echoing heavily on the empty space station. "TERRA!"

The Doctor grabbed my wrist. I tried to push him off.

I just needed to see him. Just one more time. I needed to tell Jack I was sorry.

But then I realized I had escaped. I turned back to the Doctor, seeing the golden glow of regeneration racing in the veins of his neck. The Doctor didn't say anything, just dragged me to the TARDIS.

"No...no...I have to tell him." I pleaded, hot tears pouring on my cheeks. "I have to tell Jack!"

The Doctor pushed me inside the TARDIS. The doors closed behind him, locking.

"Terra!" Jack called from the other side.

"Jack!" I screamed, pushing the Doctor aside. I ran to the doors, pounding on them. "Jack wait!"

"Terra!" Jack shouted back.

The TARDIS engines started whirring. I screamed again as they got louder. Jack's shouts got quieter and quieter. I pressed my forehead against the door, wanting to hear every last bit of Captain Jack Harkness' voice. I never wanted to forget them, when he wasn't angry at us.

And then, I couldn't hear them at all.

Pushing myself around, I let my back slide along the doors. When my butt hit the metal floors I began to sob into my knees.

The Doctor, he watched silently. Between my crying self, and the comatose Rose.

==CON==

So it was over.

All this work, all this planning, and it was over.

The Doctor was dying. There was nothing to be done for him now. He wasn't doing anything to hide it. He was giving me this comforting smile that did nothing to help me. It didn't help anything, or stop it.

He kept almost starting conversations. He would take note of my expression, usually focused on the golden swirls of energy beneath a layer of skin. He went back to the console after that, wait ten seconds, then start over again.

He found a middle ground just as Rose's foot started to twitch.

'It's not dying.' He assured me mentally. 'It just feels like it.'

'I know.' My hand brushed down on my stomach, where two matching scars stood out against my skin. 'You should cease and desist trying to provide me with comfort.'

'Cease and desist? What are you, UNIT?' The Doctor repeated. 'When did you get all serious? I was expecting more swearing out of you.'

I didn't reply.

He didn't expect me to. 'I'll still be me.'

'Shut up.'

'Terra it's a delicate process-'

'That's not why I'm mad.'

'So you are mad about something.' He realized. I cursed myself for falling for that. 'Is it about what Rose had to do?'

'No.' Partly.

'I didn't know she'd do that. Rose was supposed to stay on Earth.' The Doctor tried to convince me.

But I was angry. He wasn't going to stop that because he 'didn't know'. 'I'm a nomad. I don't stay in one place. It gives me anxiety.'

The self-diagnosis didn't surprise him. Something else did though. I could sense it when he spoke again. 'I wouldn't leave on Earth. The TARDIS would show you how to fly her, no doubt the manual is around here somewhere. I wouldn't leave you somewhere where Logan could find you.'

A lot of things sounded wrong with that explanation. Didn't he throw the manual in a supernova? Or had that not happened yet? Also, 'Logan?' I asked.

'He didn't find you already, did he?'

'Who is he? Is he some...Time Lord guy I'm supposed to know about?' I asked. The Doctor became concerned. Sending the confusion, I looked up to him. It was so much worse, seeing those blue eyes and the suspicion underneath. It was one of my favorite expressions on Nine. 'Oh crap. Is he part of UNIT? I don't know any of your UNIT people.'

The Doctor paused. Rose's arm twitched that time. She was about to wake up. 'Terra. Don't play dumb.'

'Hey! Just because I don't know that Logan guy doesn't mean you can call me an idiot!' I snapped.

'You don't remember Logan?'

'...should I?'

That was when Rose woke up.

"What happened?" She mumbled, drowsy.

"Don't you remember?" The Doctor asked.

It wasn't until later that I wondered which of us he was asking.

"It's like there was this singing." Rose wondered.

"That's right. I sang a song and the Daleks ran away." The Doctor beamed. His smile that was too cheery appeared on his face.

"Your singing sucked so bad, it scared off a room of Brits during World War One." I teased. Anything to get that smile off his face.

"That was a bomb warning." The Doctor countered.

"Not the way I remember it." I went on.

"I was at home." Rose was continuing to mutter. "No, I wasn't, I was in the TARDIS, Terra was there, and there was this light." She seemed to hit a mental wall. "I can't remember anything else."

'It was for the best.' I thought to myself. My train of thought cut off when I saw his hand glowed again.

"Rose Tyler, Terra Johnson." He looked to Rose and I, fondly. "I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses." He laughed, giddy. I chuckled under my breath. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny."

"Then, why can't we go?" Rose countered.

It brought down his mood. "Maybe you will, and maybe I will. But not like this." The Doctor pointed at me. "I was gonna learn who you were, before."

I scoffed, trying to hide any sadness I felt. "You and I both know this mystery takes several lifetimes to solve."

"Looks like it will." The Doctor agreed.

I sucked in a noise of pain.

"Neither of you are making sense." Rose got up to her feet.

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head." I opened my mouth for comment. He half glared at me, still joking. "And don't say that's an improvement." I smiled sadly, leaning against the railing. "But it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're going to end up with."

His whole body suddenly lit up bright gold. He curled in on himself, as the glow brightened.

"Doctor!" I ran up to Rose. I took hold of her arm, keeping her back.

"Keep her away!" The Doctor ordered me. He must be holding off the regeneration. Not for long, just until he was sure neither of us would be hit.

"Doing it!"

"One of you, tell me what's going on." Rose pleaded.

"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying." The Doctor explained, shuddering against the regeneration.

Rose began breathing rapidly. "Can't you do something?" Rose asked me.

I shook my head. "Nothing I can do, Rose. It's all on Magoo."

"Yeah, I'm doing it now. Time Lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see either of you again." The Doctor shrugged in pain. "Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go-"

"Don't say that." Rose interrupted him. She pushed herself out of my grip. Confident she wouldn't rush him, I let her.

"Rose, Terra, before I go, I just want to tell you, both of you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I."

Then, in a fiery explosion of gold, the Ninth Doctor was gone. You could feel this heat coming off of it. I flinched away from it. The gold fire gave way to longer brown hair. His chin grew longer. Need I mention the shrinking nose and ears?

His body snapped out of it soon enough. It made it easier to see his now dark brown eyes.

'Tenth Doctor, Happy Birthday.'

"Hello. Okay. Ooo, new teeth. That's weird." He looked to me, then Rose. "So, where was I?"

"Barcelona." I prompted him.

The Doctor smiled at me, then to Rose. "That's right, Barcelona."

==CON==

Meanwhile, hundreds of centuries before, an agent returned to his desk. His phone was lighting up with a message. He left it in his desk in case it was a personal call, from someone the night before. He was expecting the gentleman from the bar the other night, Not her.

"Jack?" A teenager's voice choked on a cry.

Captain Jack Harkness, head of Torchwood Three, dropped his phone.

==CON==

AN: Eighty-two favorites, and ninety-seven followers. I love you guys!

So yeah. This is NOT a one-and-done story. Be on the lookout for-okay well...time to say it. This story will be continued in...The Tenth Impact! ETA is unknown, because of reasons! For any updates, check my official tumblr blog: authora97-writing-updates.

I'm so happy you all have been along with me for this story! When I originally published this, a friend had encouraged me to give publishing a try. I owe her a lot of thanks! More than that, this story (AND YOU GUYS!) have helped my writing and self confidence. I've mended relationships while writing this fic, inspired other generations and basically made myself get out of bed.

YOU are what kept this story alive, even when I felt awful and wanted to throw in the towel. YOU have given me so many laughs and good times. Your reviews are like food to my soul! HUMANITY IS TERRIFIC!

Thanks to bella cullen the original, mariee98, shadow-warrior93, Lumina Pine, and mafiaprincess01, for favoriting

Thanks to Queen of Supernatural Lovers, hiraikoneko, and ChristinaCrane for following

Special thanks to misspadaleckistan, for the kick in the butt I needed. And to djmegamouth, who's reviews always keep my mind thinking for more. And to Stenzle, wherever you are, for your encouragment!